You can subscribe to AccessChamp on a monthly or yearly basis. The price depends on the number of staff that you employ in your hotel, both full and part time.

Click on the link below to be taken to the relevant online payment page. Here you can complete your details, pay with a credit or debit card and once the payment is approved you will have immediate access to all the resources on AccessChamp. Please note that the minimum length of contract is twelve months and the contract will then be renewed on a rolling monthly basis.

In the first of my blogs I posed two questions. I have already answered the first one. The second was do you always complete a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) about fire emergencies for every disabled guest that stays with or visits you? If you are not then you are failing to comply with the fire regulations. These are detailed in the booklet called – Fire Safety Risk Assessment, means of escape for disabled people. It costs a couple of pounds and is well worth the investment.

AccessChamp will provide everything you need to train all your staff about accessibility. Your staff will learn about the different impairments, see how important the market for disabled guests is, and can become either the AccessChamp for the hotel or the department they work in. The whole aim is to ensure everyone at your hotel gets great customer service.

Once you have joined AccessChamp you can watch the generic hotel induction video on how to provide great customer service for disabled guests. It is presented by Storme Toulis, actress from BBC One’s top drama series New Tricks. It lasts just two minutes so it can be fitted into any induction programme for new starters. It puts across key pieces of advice and answers the three key questions:

This is the last coffee time chat about Laughology and it looks at how we get used to doing things in the same way. Humans can be creatures of habit e.g. having the same things to eat, playing the same or similar music, the way we do our hair (men) and whether we drink tea or coffee. When we are using FLIP it is about changing the patterns or habits that we get into and doing things differently. So if in the past we have had a fear about helping a disabled person we need to break that pattern so that it is no longer an issue.

This is the fourth in a series of six coffee time chats about Laughology and it is about the language we use. So in your hotel do you have disabled or accessible toilets. In the opinion of AccessChamp disabled toilets do not work. In this session we look at a range of language terms that relate to disability. Are they suitable/acceptable and what are the better alternatives? For example people don’t suffer from something they have the disease or impairment.

Laughology is a serious subject and so is the importance of attitude when dealing with disabled people. In this session Stephanie Davies, who created Laughology, talks about the F of FLIP. It stands for focus. Too often people focus on what you can’t do such as walking, seeing or hearing. If a member of staff sees someone with a disability they might feel sorry for them. However, that person might be lucky to have had a narrow escape and they have already been told they will make a full recovery. They are looking at a positive outcome. Stephanie recommends we always focus on the positive with disability and focus on what people can do.

Laughology is a serious subject and so is the importance of attitude when dealing with disabled people. Laughology will help staff be positive and feel confident and with AccessChamp training will ensure they establish rapport with disabled guests. In this session Stephanie Davies, who created Laughology, talks about changing situations for the better.